


Moonlit Champion

by good_ho_mens



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang and Sokka are Basically Brothers Fight Me, Aang is Adorable, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Badass Sokka (Avatar), Big Brother Sokka (Avatar), Gen, Katara is a Good Sister, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, Sokka Straight Up Vibes With Spirits, Sokka is Spirit Sensitive, Spirit World, Spirits, TO ALL MY TUMBLR FOLLOWRS THATS THE DAMN WORD I WAS LOOKING FOR, Temporary Character Death, Toph Being Awesome, Toph Deserves an Award, katara is so tired, okay i'm done now, thats not a tag and im angry, thats not a tag either?????, yes i built this au off of a pun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/good_ho_mens/pseuds/good_ho_mens
Summary: Death by fire was a horrible thing to watch, and Sokka realized then that the raging element would take him one day too.
Relationships: Sokka & The Gaang (Avatar), Sokka & Yue (Avatar)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 264





	1. Fire

Sokka had imagined what dying would feel like since the day his mother was killed.

He used to sit by the fire at night and stare into the flames, wondering what it would be like to be engulfed by them. To feel the heat slowly inch up his body, smell his own flesh burning, taste the smoke from his disintegrating skin.

It was… never very accurate when he was little. His father never let him see his mom’s body, and Katara never talked about it.

Like everything else, that changed after he met Aang.

The first time Sokka saw fire kill someone, he froze. He could hear Katara screaming behind him, telling him to hurry, Momo tugging at his arm.

Death by fire was a horrible thing to watch, and Sokka realized then that the raging element would take him one day too.

When Katara asked if he was okay, he lied and said yes.

Funny, how things come back to a person in times like this. 

Sokka sees the world in slow motion, his limbs too heavy to move in time. The only thing moving in real time are Katara’s screams, and the flames.

Sokka wonders what his mother was thinking about before she died.

Because all he can think about are the three little kids he’s leaving behind, and that just might burn more than the fire.

Well, not really. The fire burns a lot.

Sokka doesn’t realize he’s screaming until Aang’s hands are cupping his face, saying something Sokka can’t understand. For a second, cool relief sweeps through his body like dipping his blistered and tired feet into a cold lake after a full day of walking, and his mouth clamps shut. Just as quickly as it comes, it’s gone again.

_“Not enough,”_ Katara says, and she sounds angry. Sokka tries to turn so he can see her, tell her that it’s okay, that she’s doing great, but his body won’t comply.

_“Dad? What does it feel like to die?”_

_Hakota raises an eyebrow, eyes rimmed red. “I don’t know. And hopefully neither of us will for a long time.”_

_“Do you think mom was scared?”_

_“Get some sleep Sokka, we’ll talk in the morning.”_

His chest. That’s where the fire bender got him. He’d meant to shield himself, but his brain sort of stopped working when he saw the fire on its way towards Aang.

It wasn’t the first time he’d been a human shield, but it’s probably the last. 

“Sokka?” That’s Toph, definitely Toph. 

This time, Sokka manages to turn and find her, he pretends he does it on his own, and that it isn’t Aang’s hands guiding him. “Oh, hey guys, we win?”

“Always do,” Aang says. Which is, obviously, a lie. They lose a lot.

Sokka smiles, and his face crinkles and cracks like walrus jerky left in the sun too long. “Word to the wise, if you wan’ a tan, don’t ask a fire bender.”

Katara snaps at him to stop joking around. Probably, at least. He doesn’t really hear her. There’s an ocean in his ears, he thinks it wants him to sleep.

It’s loud, everything is loud. Sokka wants to sleep.

He closes his eyes, and the sounds stop.

_“Hello, my love.”_

Sokka exhales, and the burning fades to nothing.

“Mom?”

***

_“Katara! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Gran gran made dinner.”_

_Katara sniffs and wipes her sleeve across her face, turning away from her brother. “I’m not hungry.”_

_“Oh.” She can hear Sokka sitting down next to her, scratching the back of his head. “Well I’m not either.”_

_Scoffing, Katara reaches back blindly to shove him. “Liar, you’re always hungry.”_

_“That’s not true!”_

_“Yes it is. Go eat, Sokka.”_

_“Fine.” Sokka doesn’t get up. “After you tell me what’s wrong.”_

_Katara whips around to glare at him, hands clenched into fists. “Mom is gone, that’s what’s wrong. And now- and now dad left too!”_

_Sokka’s nose is red from the cold, but his eyes are red from crying when he thinks Katara can’t hear. She wants to punch him when he smiles. “You’ve still got me!”_

_“Until you leave.” Katara hugs her knees to her chest and huffs. “Everyone leaves.”_

_Sokka throws his arms around her haphazardly, almost knocking them both over. “Not me!”_

_Faking annoyance, Katara glares at the wide expanse of snow surrounding them. “Promise?”_

_“Promise.”_

Katara’s hands shake with the water she’s pressing against her brother’s chest. He doesn’t move. “You promised.”

“Katar-”

“I need to focus!” Katara snaps, and Toph falls silent. Katara’s eyes sting and she prods deeper, further into the jagged burn that she’s trying not to think about while focusing all her strength on it at once. “Wake _up_ , Sokka. You _promised_.”

Sokka doesn’t wake up.

Aang is staring at her desperately, his hands cupping Sokka’s face, sitting crisscrossed under his head. Katara realizes how young he looks. Like a scared twelve year old who doesn’t want to lose a member of the only family he has left.

When she looks at Toph, gray eyes wide and feet dug a few inches into the ground, searching for any sign of life, Katara sees the same thing. A scared child.

If she was brave enough to look at her reflection in the water under her hands, she thinks she’d see it in her own face too.

“Don’t make me lose you,” Katara whispers, and her voice breaks. The water falls from her control, and her brother doesn’t move.

Katara blinks and she’s home, and her mother is on the ground, and her mother is dead. She never told Sokka what she looked like that day, no matter how many times he asked. 

She blinks again and she’s sitting in a puddle across the world from her home, and her brother is on the ground.

And her brother is dead.

***

Toph doesn’t remember how long they flew for. It’s hard to keep track of anything up in the sky even on a good day, and today wasn’t a good day.

Today was the farthest from a good day she’s ever had.

When they land, everyone disappears. Toph can still see them, still sense them. Aang is on a big rocky overhang with his back to the horizon, Katara is in a nearby cave with… with-

Toph props her feet up on a rock so she can’t see anymore.

_“Hey, not that it matters to you-”_

_Toph inwardly groans. Whenever someone starts a sentence that way it usually ends with ‘you kind of stink’ or ‘your manners are terrible’ or even ‘your parents must be heartbroken’._

_“-but I’m proud of you,” Sokka finishes._

_Under her, the soft dirt turns to rock. “What?”_

_Sokka shrugs. “You grew up being told you couldn’t do anything, and look at you! You’re the best earth bender I’ve ever met, and probably will ever meet, and you did it all on your own. That’s pretty cool.”_

_“You’re a sap,” Toph says with a scoff, leaning over to punch Sokka in the arm. She smiles when he falls over._

_They’re quiet for a while, and Sokka doesn’t sit up again. “I’m proud of you, Toph.”_

_Toph lays down next to him, and pretends she can see the sky. “Whatever. Thanks.”_

A wave of hot air blows through her clothes and Toph doesn’t need to have her feet on the ground to know it’s Aang. She shakes her head. “We could all use some cheering up right now.”

Next to her, Momo chirps. Toph nods. “I know. Hard to do without him.”

Her eyes sting and she growls, clenching her teeth and daring the tears to fall. 

They do. 

Toph looks up and pretends she can see the sky.

“I’m proud of you too, Captain Boomerang.”

***

Aang runs.

There are still Fire Nation soldiers lining up to fight them, there are still burning buildings that need to be put out. There are still people watching, waiting for the Avatar to help them.

He drags his family to Appa and he runs.

The thing he’s running from -the person he’s running from- comes with them.

Aang doesn’t look back. At the town, or at Sokka.

When they land, he sits on Appa and stares at the fading sun until no one is around, and then he runs some more.

He’s hit with a wave of deja vu when he ends up on a cliff, his eyes scan the horizon like he’s waiting for something. Something that will never come again.

Air whips around him and he turns, falling to his knees with the sun at his back. He closes his eyes.

_“Why don’t you ever stop to have fun with us?”_

_Sokka looks up from his maps, raising his eyebrow at Aang. The wind is wilder up on the cliff edge, and his hair threatens to fall from its ponytail. “What do you mean?”_

_Aang shrugs, counting off on his fingers. “Whenever we stop to go swimming or climbing or riding you always sit out, unless money or food or information is involved.”_

_“That’s ridiculous.” Sokka gestures to himself and winks at Aang, “I’m the fun guy!”_

_“Well… you give us fun ideas.”_

_“Exactly!”_

_“But you never do them with us.”_

_Sokka smiles at him softly and sets down the map. “Aang, what’s your job?”_

_“To restore peace to the four nations, defeat the Fire Lord, and master all four elements,” Aang says automatically, then adds, “But probably not in that order.”_

_“Yep!” Sokka nods over his shoulder, “What are Katara and Toph’s jobs?”_

_“To teach me water and earth bending?” Sokka grins at him like he won a prize, and Aang goes red. “So what’s your point?”_

_Sokka stands up and bonks the top of Aang’s head with a rolled up map. “Those are pretty high stress jobs for two twelve year olds and a fourteen year old.”_

_“I guess so?”_

_“So what’s my job?”_

_It takes Aang a second, but when he gets it he smacks his fist into his palm and nods. “To make sure we have fun!”_

_“To make sure you know you’re still kids.” Sokka shrugs, “And also plan all our attacks and travel. Plus keep you guys alive so you can actually do your jobs.”_

_“That’s a lot for a sixteen year old. You know you’re a kid too, right?”_

_That seems to surprise Sokka, and he frowns. “Well yeah, I guess. But sixteen is_ basically _an adult.”_

_Aang stares at him, and then pulls a mock mature face. He jumps over Sokka’s head and sits down in the middle of his pile of maps, dangerously close to the cliff edge. “Come on! Let’s finish this together!”_

_“I thought I just explained to you why you don’t help with this stuff.”_

_“Hey, if you’re going to make sure we get to be kids, I’m going to make sure you get to be a kid-that’s-basically-an-adult.”_

_Sokka pinches his nose, and then sighs. “Okay, fine. If that’s what makes you happy.”_

_“It does, very much. Now! Teach me how to plan, and I’ll teach you how to surf a bear fish!”_

_“That sounds insanely dangerous.”_

_“We fought a whole fleet of soldiers six hours ago,” Aang deadpans._

_“Okay, good point. But please don’t sit so close to the edge.”_

A whole fleet then, and they couldn’t manage eight guards today.

Aang is never going to forget the look on Sokka’s face when he pushed him out of the way of that blast.

“You’re a kid too,” Aang grits out.

No one answers, and his stomach churns and bile burns his throat. 

He slams his hands into the ground and screams, and a wave of fire engulfs the sound.

Aang stumbles back, staring at the burnt patch of ground in front of him. The dead grass he killed with his anger. The brother they killed with theirs.

“Why?” Aang whispers.

No one answers, and his stomach churns and the remnants of his fire burns his throat.

***

_“Hello, my love.”_

“Mom?”

The voice giggles, eerily familiar and warm. _“No, silly. It’s me.”_

“Yue?”

  
_“You sound surprised, did you think I’d left you alone?”_

The inky white around him ripples, Sokka had just meant to shrug. “You’ve been looking out for me?”

_“How could I not?”_

Sokka wants to hold her, wants to brush his thumb across her cheek and kiss her. He doesn’t even try. “I have to go back, Yue.”

_“Why?”_

“Are you really asking that?”

She giggles again, and Sokka thinks she sounds more confident than she ever did when he knew her. _“Wouldn’t you like to see the people waiting for you? Wouldn’t you like to stay with me? Wouldn’t you like to see your mother?”_

Ahead of him is a little house made of ice, and Sokka knows it’s his. “She’s in there?’

_“We all are.”_

“Mom?” Sokka whispers. He moves forward, then freezes.

_“You promised.”_

“Yue? Was that you?” Sokka spins in a circle, and the house stays in front of him the whole time. “Yue?”

_“You promised.”_

Sokka’s fingers move, and he jumps at the sudden control. “Katara.”

His surroundings ripple again, and he thinks he sees a flash of blue. He tries to take a step towards his house, but his feet aren’t there. Despite that, the igloo seems to move closer. 

Katara.

That’s the face he pictures when he tries to imagine what he’ll see in that igloo. If he goes, he could finally see his mother's real face again. 

“The burden I put on her was never fair,” he says to the igloo’s dark doorway. “Maybe… I could take it away.”

_“Neither was the burden you put on yourself.”_

Sokka wishes he could close his eyes. “Mom?”

_“You could leave yours behind too.”_

For a moment, Sokka considers it. Would it be so bad? Maybe if he was his sister, or Toph, or the Avatar, sure. But he’s just… Sokka.

His surroundings shake and he stumbles onto his feet, knocking pressure through his ankles. _“I’m proud of you too, Captain Boomerang.”_

If Sokka wanted, he could reach out and touch the igloo. 

When they first met, Toph barely said anything to him. She dismissed him, didn’t give him the time of day. It pissed Katara off, it frustrated Aang, it didn’t bother Sokka. He’d been ignored his whole life. Not on purpose, but gran gran, most of the villagers, even his mom always gravitated towards Katara. 

One more person was nothing.

Then one day she asked him if he thought he was weak because he didn’t have bending, and Sokka said no, and she huffed and punched his arm, and never ignored him again.

It feels like a lifetime since he’s seen her or the others.

One step. He has his feet now. All it would take is one step, and he’d be with his mom again.

“This is what I want,” Sokka tries to convince himself. 

_“Why?”_

Aang's voice sends him to his knees, pain rips through his chest and he screams through his teeth, clutching the front of his shirt. 

Tears prick at his eyes and he looks up, into the igloo, his home. One foot more and he’s inside, and the pain will go away.

If he does go, will he still be haunted by the look in Aang’s eyes when he realized Sokka sacrificed himself for him?

Doesn’t the kid have enough weight on his shoulders?

Don’t they all?

This time, when Sokka wishes he could close his eyes, he does. “Yue? I can’t… send me back, princess. Please.”

_“My brave warrior, all you had to do was ask.”_

When Sokka opens his eyes again, the igloo is gone, and the moon is all he can see.

***

They’re on the beach, and the sun went down an hour ago, and the remaining members of Team Avatar haven’t said a thing to each other since the battle. Sokka lays on the sand, and he looks so peaceful Aang can almost pretend he’s asleep. 

He never thought he’d miss Sokka’s snoring.

“Are you sure about this?” Toph asks, breaking the silence, hands clenched at her sides.

Aang watches Katara set Sokka’s helmet on his head gently, her shoulders stiff. “We have to move on in the morning, you know that.”

Toph sniffs. “Yeah, I know.”

“Hey Toph?” Aang whispers, his voice still hoarse from fire bending on the cliff. “Can I hold your hand?”

Wind whipping through her hair, Toph looks like she’s going to say no, and then she reaches out and grabs Aang’s hand in both of hers, and presses her body against his side. “Sure, Twinkletoes.”

Katara stands and lifts her arms. Her stance is off, one of her feet too far behind her, her posture twisted and sagged. 

“Do you want help?” Aang asks.

“It’s water tribe tradition for families to send off their loved ones.” Aang slumps, and then Katara’s voice switches into some resemblance of familiarity. “I’d love some help.”

Only using one hand so he doesn’t have to pull his other from Toph’s iron grip, Aang exhales slowly, and the two water benders convince the tides to lead Sokka out to sea.

It hits Aang that this is the last time he’s ever going to see his friend.

Something roars inside him. Roku, Kyoshi, any Avatar who’d ever lost a friend, who ever let their family die. It burns like fire and crashes through him like a landslide, swaying him like the wind and drowns him like the ocean that will be his friend’s grave.

Katara takes his hand, and the glowing he hadn’t even noticed fades from his tattoos. 

“Don’t let anger be your last memory of him,” Katara pleads, her voice cracks twice. 

Toph’s grip on his hand tightens. “This is it?”

Eyes fixed on Sokka’s limp form, bobbing up and down slowly, Aang takes a breath. “This is it.”

Everything goes white.

Is this grief? Aang wonders as the sand makes contact with his knees.

When he found out his people had all died, he was so caught up in so many other things that he only had time to feel the loss for a moment, and it sent him into the Avatar state. Now, with a full day to let the truth sink in before he has to let Sokka go, he can’t help but think that is what losing someone is really like.

“What’s going on?” Toph asks, and her voice is scared. 

“There’s a light. Aang, what-”

Before she can finish, before Aang can process that he’s not the only one seeing this, a wave of calm washes over him, like the first time he tried water bending.

_“Do not worry, just as you look out for the world, I have been looking out for you.”_

“I know that voice,” Katara whispers, he still can’t see her. “Princess Yue.”

“Who?”

Just as soon as it came, the white is gone. Aang squints as his eyes adjust and focus on one thing. 

The moon. More brilliant than he’s ever seen.

“Sokka!” Katara shouts, and she’s running, pulling her hand from Aang’s. She stumbles through the shallow water, sloshing forward instead of using her bending.

Aang tugs on Toph, “Come on. Let’s go see what she’s doing.”

He winces at his choice of words, but Toph doesn’t snark back like she usually does. Now is not the time.

Katara splashes around frantically, shoving water back and forth and soaking herself head to toe. “Where is he? The tide isn’t that strong, he should still be here!”

Toph closes her eyes, and after a few seconds, she shakes her head. “He’s not on the ground, as far as I can tell, at least.”

“Where is he?”

Aang feels dizzy. He puts a hand to his head, stumbling back. Toph holds him steady. “Twinkletoes?”

“Something’s happening.”

Katara stops looking for her brother, stepping back so she’s closer to Toph and Aang. 

Aang isn’t sure what’s going on, he’s not even sure it’s bad. 

His breath evens out.

The ocean explodes.

A boy bursts through the surface, silhouetted by the moon's light. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, or maybe it really is Sokka.

Katara takes a step forward, the water lapping against her hips. “Sokka?”

The boy’s hair is pure white, and even though he was just submerged in water, it doesn’t look wet at all.

“I think it’s a spirit,” Aang says.

“Who is?”

“Aang, it looks like Sokka.”

“Who does?”

“I know, but-”

“Can someone please explain to the blind girl what’s going on?” Toph shouts.

Katara shakes her head, “I’m going to get him. Even if it is a spirit, he looks unconscious.”

_“Who does?”_

Aang pulls Toph’s hands from his own, guiding her so she can latch on to Katara. “Let me go. Bridge to the spirits, remember?”

He needs to do something before he breaks.

Toph growls. “You guys suck. Sokka always tells me what’s happening.”

“Well he’s not here, is he?” Katara snaps, and then her eyes widen. “Toph, I’m sorry. I’ll- go, Aang. I’ll fill Toph in.”

Aang nods, reaches out to squeeze Katara’s hand, and dives into the ocean.

It doesn’t take him long to get to the boy, who’s still floating upright in the water despite being knocked out. When he finally gets a good look at the boy's face, Aang’s control of the water around him slips, dunking him underwater suddenly. He resurfaces, coughing and gasping.

It really is Sokka.


	2. Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back after like three weeks! Apologies uskjjvb  
> Enjoy!

Aang hasn’t let go of Sokka since he woke up, soaking wet under a pile of his crying friends.

To be fair, Toph and Katara have been more clingy lately too, but it’s nothing compared to Aang.

Maybe because he was the one who almost (did?) died back in Ba Sing Se. He wasn’t there when they were all struggling to stay hopeful, to stick together. In simple terms, this isn’t Katara or Toph’s first rodeo.

(Which makes Sokka’s heart ache, when he recognizes Toph’s forced teasing and Katara’s sad smiles.)

“Aang, I kind of need my arm to start this fire,” Sokka says, and he tries not to sound annoyed, because he remembers how hard it was to leave Aang’s bedside after Ba Sing Se, to sleep or eat, let alone make an invasion plan.

“Oh.” Aang untangles his arms from Sokka’s, scooting away to give him room. He doesn’t scoot very far. “Sorry.”

Sokka gives him a small smile, and he watches as Aang’s eyes travel slowly up to stare at his hair.

Yeah, that’s hard to get used to.

“How far do we need to fly tomorrow, Sokka?” Katara asks for the fourth time.

It’s her own way of attaching herself to him, asking him questions like she’s reminding herself he’s there every two seconds. He doesn’t miss the way she watches him start the fire warily, a hand ready by her water pouch.

“Not far, we’ll probably have some down time. Maybe stop at a nearby town?”

“No thanks,” Aang says quietly. Katara gives him a worried look. 

Sokka presses his mouth into a tight line. “I’m going to go check on Toph.”

Aang jumps up, “I’ll go with you!”

Sharing a look with his sister, Sokka nods. “Alright air-head, let’s go.”

“Ha! Air-head! Good one,” Katara says, laughing louder than she needs to.

Sokka thinks he might scream.

Aang grabs onto his arm again as soon as they start walking, and Sokka lets him. “Feeling okay, buddy?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Aang squints at him, “Are  _ you _ okay?”

Sokka wants to say he’ll be better as soon as everyone stops treating him like a child, but instead he just nods. “Just sad about my hair.”

“I think it looks cool!” Aang jumps up with a gust of air, hanging on Sokka’s shoulders so he can see his hair up close. “You and Appa match.”

“Wow, everything I’ve always wanted.” Aang jumps back down, twirling three tiny woven ropes in his hands. Sokka raises an eyebrow. “You’ve been messing with those all week. What are they?”

Aang goes red, and he shrugs. “The Monks always made them whenever one of us got our tattoos. The bands are supposed to symbolize achievement and growth.”

“Huh. Is it for mastering earthbending?”

If possible, Aang goes even redder. “I still have a lot to learn from Toph, there’s no way I’ve mastered earth. They’re… actually for you.”

Sokka looks down at the kid, who’s got his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he tries to tie a knot, and tries to think of something meaningful to say, to thank him. “Oh.”

Brilliant.

Aang holds the bands out, and Sokka examines them as he takes them. They’re braided in a way Sokka hasn’t seen before, but the strands bend and curve awkwardly in places Aang made a mistake in the pattern. “Is this orange from your shirt?”

“The blue is from yours!”

Sokka might think that was weird if Aang didn’t look so excited. “Where do I put it?”

“Anywhere you want!” Aang drops onto his back with a huff, sticking his leg in the air. “Mine is on my ankle!”

Sokka laughs. “How about on my wolf tail?” he holds the band out to Aang, “Help me out?”

Aang jumps up to his feet and then to Sokka’s shoulders so fast it makes him dizzy, and Sokka starts walking again, hands wrapped around Aang's ankles to keep him steady as he ties the band through Sokka’s hair.

Toph is sitting next to Appa, throwing berries at random and cackling when Momo dives after them.

At least someone is acting normal. “Hey, Toph.”

“Who’s there?” Jumping to her feet, Toph holds out her arms in a defensive position. After a few seconds, she drops them. “Oh, Sokka, it’s just you.”

“Did I just startle you? With  _ those _ feet?”

“Hey, back off. It’s hard to get used to that.” Toph points in Sokka’s direction with a huff.

Sokka wrinkles his eyebrows. “Me?”

“Yeah, you’re different now.”

“But you can’t see his hair,” Aang points out, climbing down Sokka’s arm to get to the ground.

Toph rolls her eyes and steps closer to point at Sokka’s chest. “Not his hair, that.”

“You can’t see my scar either.”

“You’re both idiots.” Toph pokes his chest roughly. “Your heart, obviously. Ever since you got back, it’s different.”

Aang’s eyes widen and he turns to press his ear into Sokka’s chest. “Different how? Different bad?”

Toph drops her arm. “Just different. I’m used to your individual heartbeats, and yours sounds… unfamiliar lately.”

“Oh goody.”

“Maybe Katara can heal it?”

“I said different, not broken!”

Sokka pats Aang’s head, then pushes it away from him. “Come on, food time.”

“You’re really telling me you can’t hear the difference?” Toph continues, leaning into Aang’s face.

Aang puts his hands up in surrender. “Should I be able to?”

“Yes! That’s the center of my earthbending! That, by the way, feather brain, I taught you!”

“Oh.”

Sokka leans against a tree, watching and trying to decide if he’s annoyed or amused as they argue back and forth. In a few minutes, Toph will tire herself out and they can go eat.

_ “Help!” _

His shoulder slipping from the tree, Sokka stumbles, spinning to try and find the direction of the voice. “Did you guys hear that?”

Aang frowns and looks around. “Hear what?”

“Someone calling for help.”

Toph stretches her hand out towards him, tilting her head to listen as Aang circles to his other side. “No.”

_ “Help me!” _

Sokka spins, startling both his friends. “There it was again!”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Aang says slowly. He points towards the direction of the fire. “Maybe we should go get Katara?”

Toph nods. “I would hear it if someone was there.”

“No! I swear-” When Sokka turns his head, he’s met with two worried looks. Two scared looks. He forces himself to take a breath. “You know, I think we’ve all been on edge lately. Must’ve been a bird.”

That seems to be good enough for Aang, who grabs his arm and Toph’s, pulling them back towards the fire. “Come on, Katara’s waiting.”

Toph glares at Sokka’s shoulder, but doesn’t say anything.

***

Sokka adjusts the map spread across his thighs awkwardly, trying not to wake up Aang, who’d passed out leaning against his legs an hour ago. Sokka’s calf is starting to cramp up painfully, but at least the kid’s asleep.

Toph is snoring no more than two feet away, both feet planted firmly on the ground and a hand reaching out, just barely brushing Aang’s with her knuckles.

“They look so tiny,” Katara says. Sokka looks up and watches her poke at the dying fire.

“They are tiny.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Katara’s eyebrows furrow, and she keeps her eyes trained on the embers. “Do you ever worry?”

Sokka snorts, “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“About them.” Katara huffs and begrudgingly adds, “About us.”

“Only every second of every day.” 

“I worry too, you know.”

There’s something like indignation in her tone, and Sokka smiles. “I know you do, you don’t exactly hide it.”

“Hey! You’re one to talk about subtlety, Mr. Sneak Attack.”

She has a point. Sokka sticks his tongue out at her.

“Aang said he gave you the band he’s been making,” Katara says, her voice soft again.

Sokka nods and points at his hair. “I think it looks cool. Like dad’s beads.”

“Yeah. The mark of a warrior.”

Sokka smiles at that, Katara doesn’t.

Aang stirs, and his head flops to the side so fast Sokka barely has time to reach out and catch it, adjusting it gently to lay against his knee. 

Katara watches him, and says nothing.

The last of the fire goes out as a breeze carries itself through their camp, and the world seems to still around their tired little group.

_ “Someone please help me!” _

***

Sokka wakes up without the warmth of his friends at his side.

He shivers and stands, looking down at Katara, curled up with Toph and snorts. There’s no way either of them will admit they’d been cuddling in the morning. Aang is snoring, his arms thrown over Sokka’s sleeping form.

Sokka stumbles back and trips. 

_ His sleeping what. _

“Alright, Sokka. You’re dreaming.” Sokka stands, brushing himself off. “This is some wacky dream that’s just… weirdly realistic, and you’re going to wake up any second-”

_ “Help!” _

The voice is louder here, and it cuts through Sokka’s skull. Something inside him makes him take off after it without stopping to think.

Low hanging branches and twigs from bushes snap against his arms, and he feels nothing. The ground under his feet is soft, and his breath comes out in puffs of frozen white, like it always did back home. The air is warm.

Everything contradicts itself, and Sokka is having a harder time convincing himself this isn’t real. He reaches up to his head, running his fingers along the band Aang gave him. He debates going back to their camp to try and wake up the group. Animals are supposed to sense things people can’t, right?

Maybe he can go get Momo.

Sokka turns, intent on heading back, and runs smack into a tree he swears wasn’t there before.

Did he get his hands on cactus juice again? Sokka looks down at his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Alright. What would Aang do?”

After a few seconds, Sokka plops down into a sitting position and rests his hands on his knees. He closes his eyes and draws in a slow breath, letting it out again as slowly as his lungs will let him.

Impatient, Sokka opens one eye, scanning the area. No Aang.

“This is probably  _ something _ about you, right?” Sokka sighs and crosses his arms as he stands again, walking with his hands tucked under his armpits. “Travel with the Avatar, they said. You’ll have a good time, they said.”

No one actually said that and Sokka knows it. He scowls. “Why do I always have to get carried off into weird, spooky places?”

Weird, spookily  _ familiar _ places.

Sokka’s eyes widen and he stops, resting his hand on a tree trunk. He’s been here before. The air that feels like it’s not there until he tries to breathe, the ground that seems to pulse like a heartbeat under his feet. The changing landscape.

He spent a night here, what feels like years ago. Sokka looks up, spinning in a circle, trying to catch a glimpse of the moon.

There she is, high in the sky and bigger than she ever is in his world.

“What’s going on?” He asks her, gesturing around him. “Why am I back here? How come I don’t have my body this time?”

_ “She doesn’t usually answer.” _

Sokka shrieks and pulls his arms in front of his face, sticking a leg out in front of him, poised to kick. After a few seconds, he lowers his arms, staring at the… spirit? In front of him. “Hi?”

The spirit waves. They look like some sort of cross between a mushroom and a ten year old. Roots run like veins through their arms, sprouting clovers and fungi that shimmer when the moonlight hits them.  _ “I’m glad you came.” _

Sokka gasps, dropping his foot back to the ground, “It’s you! You were calling for help!”

“ _No_.” The spirits face darkens. “ _My_ _twin_ _was_.”

“Oh.”

_ “Are you here to help them, Champion?” _

Sokka rubs the back of his neck. “Champ who now?”

The spirit squints at him. _ “You were chosen as the Moon Spirit’s protector, weren’t you?” _

“If I say no, are you going to eat me?”

_ “You have her touch,” _ The spirit says, reaching out to tug gently on a strand of his hair.  _ “You are her chosen. Therefore you are the Champion of all the spirits under her.” _

Sokka just wants to wake up. “That’s… nice.”

_ “So you will help my twin?” _

Sokka opens his mouth to say no, to tell them that they should really just go get the Avatar, since he’s the bridge to the spirit world and all. Before he can say anything, a wave of calm washes over him, and he looks up at the moon. She seems to glare back. “Really?”

The moon, obviously, doesn’t answer, but Sokka sighs and nods at the spirit. “Yeah, I’ll help you.”

The spirit smiles and takes his hand, tugging him forward.  _ “We have to hurry, the sun has infected them.” _

“Your twin has a sunburn?” Sokka frowns. “Then we should really get my sister, she’s-”

_ “Not a sunburn, they’ve been infected.”  _ the spirit yanks harder on his hand.  _ “Moonwalkers don’t belong in sunlight. I told them, and they wouldn’t listen. They never listen to me.” _

Sokka snorts. “I know the feeling. What’s your name anyway?”

_ “You can call me Pan.” _

“And your twin?”

_ “Puck.” _

“Okay, Pan. How worried should I be about seeing this Puck?”

Pan glances back at him, their gray-green hair falls over their face.  _ “If the sun rises again and they are not saved, I’ll lose them forever.” _

“Oh.” Sokka looks up to glare at the moon again. He loves her, he really does, but come  _ on _ .

_ “Save me!”  _ the voice from before screams. Pan’s hand changes grip, almost like they’re switching from leading him to hanging on for dear life.

They push past a few more trees and into a clearing and Sokka stops, staring in shock at the sight he’s met with. “You said we have until sunrise?”

_ “Yes.” _

  
Sokka gapes at the yellow dragon in front of him. “Awesome.”


End file.
